Joey Logano edges out Kyle Bush for Talladega Nationwide victory

Amanda Vincent, NASCAR correspondent

Same cars, different results in Talladega

After a 20-minute red flag period to remove Eric McClure from his wrecked
No. 14 TriStar Motorsports Toyota and repair damage to a SAFER barrier,
Joey Logano Jr. got his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota by the No. 54 Kyle
Busch Motorsports Toyota of Kyle Busch as the two raced toward the
checkered flag in the Aaron's 312 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at
Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Saturday to claim his first win at the
track.

"You never know what's going to happen in these superspeedway races,"
Logano said in victory lane.

As McClure was airlifted to the University of Alabama Birmingham Medical
Center, the same two cars that battled for the win last weekend at Richmond
(Va.) International Raceway, the No. 18 and the No. 54, finished in reverse
order from a week ago with different drivers behind the wheel.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished third in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford to
take the points lead from previous leader, Elliott Sadler. Sadler finished
the race 10th in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet and fell five
points behind Stenhouse after heading to Talladega with a two-point lead.

You never know what's going to happen in these superspeedway races.

Joey Logano

With the weekend qualifying session being cancelled by rain, Sadler and
Stenhouse started the race side-by-side on the front row. While Sadler ran
near the front much of the race before sustaining damage to his car late in
the going, Stenhouse dropped to the back early to stay out of trouble.

"We started up front and then got shuffled to the back," Stenhouse said. "I
just kind of rode around and didn't push the issue too much. When I saw
things getting a little hairy, I backed off and rod around."

The race featured a combination of two-car tandem drafting and big pack
drafts throughout, as several drivers spent time up front.

Logano worked with Sadler through the early stages, as Busch teamed up with
his brother Kurt Busch in the No. 1 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet. The Busch
family tandem got separated during a set of yellow-flag pit stops, though,
during a caution that came out on lap 21. Kurt Busch was penalized for
taking equipment out of his pit box when he pulled away with the gas can
still stuck to his car.

The Busch brothers got back together a few laps later but were separated
again when Kurt Busch had to made a green-flag pit stop with 37 laps
remaining when his car began to overheat. As a result, he went one lap down
and eventually lost a second lap on the track.

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch continued to run up front, leading at times with
drafting assistance by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 5 JR Motorsports
Chevrolet.

Kurt Busch got both laps back, one with a caution that came out with nine
laps remaining and the second when the yellow flag waved again with four
laps to go.

The closing laps of the race saw two green-white-checker attempts. The
second one was preceded by a red flag after a multi-car accident began near
the front of the field, involving front runners like Kevin Harvick in the
No. 33 Richard Childress Chevrolet and Brad Keselowski in the No. 22 Penske
Racing Dodge, and set off a chain reaction that also collected several
others, including McClure.

Kyle Busch

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

"I just know I got hit from behind," Harvick said. "I was a little off-set
there."

Once the race resumed, there was additional heavy contact between the No.
12 Penske Racing Dodge of Sam Hornish Jr and the No. 7 JR Motorsports
Chevrolet of Danica Patrick, but it wasn't enough to bring out the yellow
flag again for a third green-white-checker.

As drivers behind them were running into each other, Kyle Busch and Logano
pulled away on the final lap, with Busch in the lead and Logano pushing
from second. With the checkered flag in sight, Logano pulled out to pass
Busch and claim the win by 0.034 seconds.

"You've got to position yourself for the end of these things," Logano said.
"I didn't think we were in the right position."